Cassini's incredible new views of Saturn's moons

Saturn, a planet 95 times more massive than Earth, has 62 moons, but only thirteen of them have diameters larger than 50 kilometres.

Saturn's moons are small compared to it's massive size, but here, four of Saturn's moons are visible here alongside the ringed planet. Two of these -- Janus and Epimetheus -- are so small, they're almost impossible to see here.

This week, NASA's Saturn orbserver Cassini returned incredible new views of the ringed planet's impressive moons, including the orbiter's closest-ever pass just 46 miles from Enceladus.

Mimas, 246 miles across, appears as a bright dot below the rings just to the right of the center of the image. Enceladus, 313 miles across, is visible below the rings on the far right of the image. Janus is 111 miles across, and can just barely be discerned as a tiny speck past Enceladus on the right edge of the image. Epimetheus, just 70 miles across, is likewise tiny, and can be detected on the extreme left of the image above the rings.

Enceladus at approximately 19,810 miles

During a pass of Enceladus which came within 46 miles of the moon's surface, the primary mission was to collect samples with Cassini's ion and neutral mass spectrometer, evaluating the composition of Enceladus' south polar plume.

This raw image of Enceladus from NASA's Cassini spacecraft was taken from just 19,810 miles away on March 27, 2012.

Icy particles and water vapor over south polar

Over the south polar region of Saturn’s moon Enceladus, icy particles and water vapor spray out in sparkling plumes.

Cassini’s ion and neutral mass spectrometer measured composition, density and variability of the plumes, and using the plasma spectrometeranalyzed Saturn’s magnetic and plasma environment near Enceladus.

Dione captured by the Cassini spacecraft

Taken March 28, 2012, this image of Dione was captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft from approximately 49,087 miles away. Although it's only 697 miles in diameter, Dione is the 15th largest moon in the entire Solar System, and is more massive than all known moons smaller than itself combined.

Saturn's moon Mimas

With Saturn off to the left, out of view, it's moon Mimas is pictured next to Saturn's rings. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Dec. 21, 2011, from around 1.7 million miles from the moon.